Post Office Problems

Mem

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They seem to work slowly on purpose to annoy people. They are always understaffed too. Now to make matters worse they accept passport applications that seems to take 30 minutes per transaction or more.

I went to a post office today in a city of over 100,000 people. 3 workers were serving the people. There were only 4 people in line when I got on line. One person was at the window doing God knows what. The other person had delivery problems because she had moved 3 or 4 time so she needed a Supervisor. So while the supervisor is talking to her, instead of moving to another kiosk, so that the postal worker can help another person, they stay there. Then the worker leaves and goes to the back.

I still have 4 people in front of me and now 3 people behind me. A lady walks behind the second man on line and says that she was already there on line. I wasn't noticing who was there or not, but he told her that she was not there before. So finally she moved to the end of the line. It is amazing what lack of shame some people have to try and get over on people.

Is this just a problem in my area, or does it happen in yours too? Also curious about how it works in other countries.
 

Alex Chambers

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Ben Franklin started the Post Office. I think some of those people still work there. Ours is a fairly small town of about 25K people or so and I have seen lines out the door in the post office in town, which is why I typically go the one just outside of the city, in the township. Transactions typically proceed a little faster in that post office. I am guessing that with increased costs of business, competition from other carriers, and a decrease in business arising from the use of electronic media, the USPS will only become less and less viable. I wonder if we will ever get rid of it completely?
 

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My dad worked for the USPS as a window clerk for many years before his retirement in 1988. He even complained of the slack ass people they were hiring back then. It use to be that only the top few percent were hired after testing, I really don't know if they even test anymore.
It has been my experience that most but not all state or government workers don't give a damn about customer service, they seem to think that you work for them, not the other way around. I try to avoid these places as much as possible.
 

transformer_99

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You'd be surprised what they have to put up with out of customers just the same. They really aren't that bad. Many customers show up with issues they needed to resolve long before getting in line, like filling out a GD form. Having their money ready for what they intend to purchase. I live in Miami, 1/2 the dimwits at the post office lines are the same retards that take forever to order something at a drive thru fast food joint. There are those that can't communicate too. English, Spanish, Creole, you name it. They don't know what product they want when they get in line and it takes time to give them all of the options to where they understand. It's just as bad here, if not worse for UPS and even FedEx, so there is no alternative. It takes the USPS 3 days at worst to get a package coast to coast because they are big enough of a system to really do it without doubling and tripling the price and calling it a special service. The alternative is UPS, a union delivery service. FedEx is better than they are here in Miami, FL. So for all it's faults, the USPS is still better than the competition.
 

D_Bob_Crotchitch

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The Congress of the United States, and the postal board of governors are running the postal service into the ground. It takes an act of Congress to close a post office in a town that has dwindled to three people. The post office cannot close it down. Congress forces the post office to give back money to the treasury to keep costs ever rising. So far, they've had to cough up over 10 billion dollars. Also, Congress won't let them have their own planes. When the volume of shipping dropped after the attacks on the World Trade Center, Congress gave UPS, and FedEx over 1 billion dollars a piece to keep them solvent. UPS even got some of the money intended for the airlines. The post office got just enough money to buy machines to irradiate the mail if anthrax or another biological warfare substance was detected.

Decisions on staffing are made in centralized locations. If I need to call in a complaint on lack of staff, I have to call Houston. Houston regulates offices that over 100 miles away from them. Also, Reagan gave the executive order that any Veteran who passed the postal exam was to go to the top of the hiring list. It's almost impossible to fire those people, and they know it. We have one that is the king of drunks. They haven't fired him yet. He misdelivers our mail. Hangs out at a house drinking. He's still here after 20 years of complaints.

I remember reading that the year UPS went public, they gave over 100 million dollars in Congressional campaign contributions. They give it out to both parties doing their best to buy sway. Such a rotten bunch of apples.
 

Mem

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I met a guy who worked at the post office and he told me that they have a policy on lateness that does not accept excuses.

I've also had to write letters of complaint to my local postmaster and never got a response. I guess they get to the letter and throw them out before they get to him.

I have also written two letters to praise the good service for two different people.
 

D_Bob_Crotchitch

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That's wonderful mem. I always try to let a boss know if their employee is great. I even told an airline supervisor when a ticket agent fixed my deleted reservation. The clerk who took my reservation hit delete instead of enter. They got me on the flight I wanted, at the original discount price. I asked to speak to a supervisor, and told them all that she had done.
 

b.c.

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We had major post office problems here in N.O. years after the Storm. As of late, all of the stamp machines have disappeared from the lobbies of the branches, and most stores that used to carry them no longer do. So one has to go to the post office and stand in lines to buy stamps even. Don't know if it's the same in other cities.

Btw, have you ever tried calling the Postmaster General? The head honcho in Washington D.C.? Don't bother. He doesn't have a phone. (Or at least none the J.Q. Public can contact him on.)
 

Mem

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We had major post office problems here in N.O. years after the Storm. As of late, all of the stamp machines have disappeared from the lobbies of the branches, and most stores that used to carry them no longer do. So one has to go to the post office and stand in lines to buy stamps even. Don't know if it's the same in other cities.

Btw, have you ever tried calling the Postmaster General? The head honcho in Washington D.C.? Don't bother. He doesn't have a phone. (Or at least none the J.Q. Public can contact him on.)

I had to get a postal Money Order, that's why I had to wait on line. There is a new automated mailing system at main branches of big cities here in NJ. It takes debit and credit cards and dispenses stamps. You can also use it to mail packages the size of a large shoe box. It prints a stamp and you drop it into what looks like a giant corner mailbox.
 

b.c.

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I had to get a postal Money Order, that's why I had to wait on line. There is a new automated mailing system at main branches of big cities here in NJ. It takes debit and credit cards and dispenses stamps. You can also use it to mail packages the size of a large shoe box. It prints a stamp and you drop it into what looks like a giant corner mailbox.

Yes, there's one here in N.O....and I DO mean ONE...at the central office. I suppose they'll get around to installing more at the other locations...sometime in this decade.
 

earllogjam

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Is this just a problem in my area, or does it happen in yours too? Also curious about how it works in other countries.

Same scene different city here.

The clerks are leisurely but it's customers in line that irritate me more. The worst are the people who wrap and tape packages at the counter or people with home businesses that come in with a handtruck of assorted shit to certify mail.

Standing in line and rude service at the Post Office is the great equalizer in society, a close second to the DMV.

Can you imagine what Universal Government run healthcare will be like? Scary.